1. Technical Field
This invention relates to vehicle article carriers, and more particularly to a locking mechanism for a bracket member for adjustably, releasably securing the bracket member and a cross bar attached thereto at a plurality of locations along a support member.
2. Discussion
Vehicle article carriers are used on a wide variety of vehicles to support and transport cargo and other items, where such items are either too large to fit in an interior area of the vehicle or otherwise more conveniently transported on the outside of the vehicle. In such vehicle article carrier systems, a pair of support members is typically employed. Each support member is secured to an outer body vehicle surface such as a roof of the vehicle and positioned longitudinally along the roof portion of the vehicle such that each extends from the front of the vehicle to the rear of the vehicle along outermost side portions of the vehicle roof. Such systems typically further employ some form of bracket member which may be slidably, releasably disposed along each of the support members. The bracket members are typically secured to a cross bar extending therebetween for supporting cargo or other like items above the vehicle body roof or for helping to secure cargo or other like items to the vehicle body roof via straps, cords or other like implements. In the latter case, one or more elongated support strips may be secured to the vehicle body surface between the support members to prevent the outer body vehicle surface from becoming scratched, marred or otherwise damaged by the cargo.
For allowing each of the bracket members, and thus the cross bar, to be positioned at a desired location along the support members, each bracket member typically includes some form of locking device for cooperating with the support member to secure the bracket member releasably at various positions along the length of each support member. In addition, some form of actuating means is typically incorporated to enable the locking device within each bracket member to be released from locking engagement, to thereby permit adjustment of each bracket member along its associated support member, and to allow each bracket member to be locked at a desired position.
Patents involving vehicle article carrier systems and disclosing various forms of novel and non-obvious actuating mechanisms are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,684,048, 4,754,905 and 4,972,983, each to John A. Bott. The disclosures of each of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference.
While the vehicle article carrier systems disclosed in the above-mentioned patents have each proven to be a significant success, it would nevertheless be desirable to provide a bracket member having a locking mechanism therein which even more positively operates to secure a bracket member to a support member.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a vehicle article carrier system which incorporates a pair of bracket members which each include locking mechanisms therein for even more positively releasably securing the bracket member to an associated support member at a plurality of desired positions along the length of the support member.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle article carrier which includes a bracket member securable to an associated support member, where the bracket member includes an actuating member which may be easily moved by an operator between a locked and an unlocked position to thereby allow the bracket member to be releasably, adjustably secured to the support member at a particular desired position along the support member or released from locking engagement to permit the bracket member to be slidably positioned along the support member at a different desired position.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a vehicle article carrier having a bracket member releasably, adjustably enageable with an associated support member, where the bracket member includes a locking mechanism therein which is constructed simply with a relatively small number of component parts, and which enables the bracket member to be very positively secured at specific, desired locations along the length of the support member.